AZ Active Retirement Living

Half yearly Sun City Grand home sales are up this year compared to the first half of last year. I've posted the sales month by month on my website for the last 2 1/2 years. Click on the links below to see this years month by month sales then scroll down to see the chart that shows the resale sales for many of the west valley Arizona retirement communities.

A recent article in the Arizona Republic states why Sun City Grand is weathering the real estate storm better than other valley communities.

Pam and Randall Nottenkamper spent five years searching for the perfect retirement community. The California retirees stayed a month in Tucson, three months in Palm Desert, Calif., and toured complexes in Scottsdale and Peoria.

In the end, they chose Sun City Grand in Surprise.

Pam Nottenkamper is 58 and her husband is 68. That's young, according to those who recruit for the Valley's retirement communities. The couple liked Sun City Grand because of the golf courses, the activities and the chance to have neighbors who are a lot like them.

"You want people you are going to relate to," Pam Nottenkamper said. "The people we met at Sun City Grand are in our age group."

Her husband noted that other communities, such as Palm Springs, seemed to be older.

That perception of youth may go a long way to explain why Sun City Grand retained its property values better than any other community in Maricopa County during the real-estate bust that has gripped the Valley for several years.

Boomers are the target

The Nottenkampers fit into the most targeted demographic of Sun Cities everywhere - Baby Boomers between the ages of 55 and 65.

While residential property values fell an average of 15.2 percent across the Valley last year, Sun City Grand's houses fell just 3.78 percent, according to the Maricopa County Assessor's Office.

Phoenix home values went down by an average of 25 percent and Youngtown, the worst hit, averaged losses of nearly 49 percent.

The search for youthful stability prompted Sun City Grand residents to lower the community's age restriction to 45 years old from 55 years old. The 2007 initiative easily gained the 67 percent approval rate needed to pass.

Betty Spencer, 81, was one of the Grand residents who voted to lower the age limit. "I thought it was great," said Spencer, who now is friendly with two or three younger families on her street.